Astragalus applegatei
Plants 30–40 cm, sparsely strigulose; root and base of stems not known. Stems diffuse, sparsely strigulose. Leaves 3.5–7 cm; stipules 1.5–3 mm, papery at proximal nodes, herbaceous at distal nodes; leaflets 7–11, blades linear to linear-elliptic, (5–)8–20 mm, apex obtuse and apiculate, surfaces strigulose abaxially, glabrous adaxially. Peduncles incurved-ascending, 3–6 cm. Racemes 10–18-flowered; axis 3–7 cm in fruit; bracts 1–1.5 mm; bracteoles 0. Pedicels 1.3 mm. Flowers 6.5–7 mm; calyx 3–3.3 mm, strigose, tube 2.3–2.5 mm, lobes triangular, 0.7–0.9 mm; corolla whitish, tinged with lilac; keel 5.5–5.9 mm. Legumes spreading or declined, green or purple-mottled becoming stramineous, ± straight, narrowly and subsymmetrically oblong-ellipsoid, 8–11 × 2.4–2.8 mm, papery, strigulose; stipe 4–5 mm. Seeds 8–10.
Phenology: Flowering Jun–early Aug.
Habitat: Seasonally wet meadows, moist ground along wayside ditches in moderately saline substrates.
Elevation: 1200–1300 m.
Discussion
Astragalus applegatei occurs in the vicinity of the Klamath River, south of Klamath Falls in Klamath County.
As noted by L. Abrams (1944b), Astragalus applegatei most closely resembles A. filipes, but the fruits split at the apex initially, as in A. trichopodus var. antisellii.
Astragalus applegatei is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
Selected References
None.